SINGAPORE - Two of the biggest young female singers in the contemporary pop world have new singles out from their highly anticipated upcoming albums.
Olivia Rodrigo's debut album, Sour, is set to be released in the third week of May, while Billie Eilish's second album, Happier Than Ever, will be out in end-July.
Meanwhile, three bands that made their name during the alternative rock boom of the 1990s - American bands Dinosaur Jr and Weezer, as well as Scottish outfit Teenage Fanclub - are soldiering on with new albums.
Check these out on music-streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music.
1. Folk
Your Power
Billie Eilish - Your Power (Official Video)
Multi-Grammy-winning teenage singer Billie Eilish recently released a single - folk ballad Your Power - as well as details of her sophomore album.
Titled Happier Than Ever, the album cover features her in a new blonde hairdo.
Like her debut album, the critically and commercially successful When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, all 16 songs were written by Eilish and produced by her brother Finneas.
The full album will be released on July 30.
2. Pop/Rock
Good 4 U
Olivia Rodrigo - Good 4 U (Official Video)
Rising pop singer Olivia Rodrigo goes pop-punk in her third single, Good 4 U.
The song, which follows the massively successful Drivers License and Deja Vu, is taken from her debut album, Sour, which is set to be released on May 21.
Like her earlier tracks, the song is a dig at a former lover, who many have speculated to be her High School Musical: The Musical: The Series co-star Joshua Bassett.
3. Pop/Alternative
Higher Power
Coldplay - Higher Power (Official Audio // Extraterrestrial Transmission)
Higher Power is British band Coldplay's first single from their upcoming ninth album.
The quartet, fronted by Chris Martin, launched the song in an out-of-this-world way.
They beamed up a music video of the song into space, to French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who is on board the International Space Station.
The band had a video chat with Mr Pesquet, noting the similarities between life on the space station with their experience of touring as well as the fragile state of the earth.
4. Pop
Build A B*tch
Bella Poarch - Build A B*tch (Official Video)
Build A B*tch is a single from Filipino-American Tik Tok star Bella Poarch, who is the third-most followed personality on the social-media platform, with more than 66 million followers.
In a statement, she said she "hopes the song helps people to feel more confident about themselves, and also reminds them not to judge anyone else".
The music video features guest stars such as online personalities Dina, Bretman Rock and Mia Khalifa.
5. Hard Rock/Alternative Rock
Van Weezer
Weezer - All The Good Ones (Official Video)
The 14th album from American alternative rock stalwarts Weezer, Van Weezer shows the quartet paying tribute to 1980s stadium rock.
Marked by heavy guitars and catchy choruses galore, the album is dedicated to rock guitar icon Eddie Van Halen, who died in October 2020.
One of the songs, Blue Dream, made its debut in a May 2020 episode of animated television series The Simpsons, which also featured the band playing themselves.
6. Blues/Rock
Delta Kream
The Black Keys - Crawling Kingsnake (Official Music Video)
Delta Kream is the 10th album from Grammy-winning American duo The Black Keys.
The 11 tracks comprise covers of music by hill country blues artistes such as Junior Kimbrough and R. L. Burnside.
Singer Dan Auerbach says: "We made this record to honour the Mississippi hill country blues tradition that influenced us starting out. These songs are still as important to us today as they were the day Pat and I started playing together and picked up our instruments."
7. Post-punk/Alternative Rock
Seek Shelter
Iceage - Shelter Song (Official Video)
Danish punk band Iceage expand on their punk palette in fifth album Seek Shelter, incorporating genres such as Britpop and classic rock.
Singer-guitarist Elias Bender Ronnenfelt spent weeks alone writing the lyrics.
"It becomes an amalgamation of ideas and impressions of things that you've been provoked by or had to live through," he says of the lyrics. "You end up with something that is a rough, blurry perspective of what that period of time was like, a mishmash of personal struggle that is shaded throughout by a world that seems more transparent in its inherently cruel ways."
8. Indie pop/Indie rock
If I Could Make It Go Quiet
Girl In Red - Serotonin (Official video)
If I Could Make It Go Quiet is the debut album from Girl In Red, the stage name of Norwegian singer-songwriter Marie Ulven.
In a December 2020 interview with British music publication NME, she says the songs touch on her struggles with relationships and her mental health.
She adds: "There's a light at the end of the tunnel, but that doesn't mean that there's a long way to go. I know what I'm dealing with, but it's about doing the hard work."
9. Indie Pop/Alternative Rock
Endless Arcade
Teenage Fanclub - In Our Dreams (Official video)
One of the indie acts still going strong since emerging in the early 1990s, Scottish band Teenage Fanclub have just released their 11th album, Endless Arcade.
It is their first since co-founding member, singer and bassist Gerard Love left the band in 2018. Keyboardist Dave McGowan has since switched to bass, while the band have added a new member, keyboardist Euros Childs, who used to play in Welsh band Gorky's Zygotic Mynci.
10. Alternative Rock
Sweep It Into Space
Dinosaur Jr - Take It Back (Official Video)
Sweep It Into Space is the fifthalbum from American alternative rock elders Dinosaur Jr since the original trio reformed in 2005, and their 12th overall.
Frontman J. Mascis co-produced the songs with the band's long-time fan, singer-songwriter Kurt Vile, who also plays 12-string guitar on the album.
